As I watched her sing and move around the stage, I enjoyed the show. The singer had an incredible voice and wonderful stage presence. She used the microphone to the fullest and the crowd cheered at the end of each song. After the show, I went over to tell her how much I enjoyed her singing. She was standing with a man who held her arm. As I spoke to her, I noticed that her head turned to hear my voice before she faced me. It was then that I noticed the white cane. As I looked at her beautiful eyes, I realized that they could not see. Her smile was genuine as she spoke to me but she couldn’t see the smile I was giving her or my delight at meeting her. I watched her walk away on the gentleman’s arm, tapping her cane in front of her. How different she looked from the woman who had been moving around the stage, singing, handling the microphone, and talking to the crowd. As I thought about these two different personas, the entertainer and the blind woman, I began to realize how much she needed to trust. As the entertainer, she trusted that someone would show her how far she could move before she came to the end of the stage.

Coaches are everywhere today. There are all sorts of coaches including financial coaches, business coaches, life coaches, as well as sports coaches. I am a Life Coach. So you may ask, “What is a life coach and how is life coaching done?” A Life Coach is someone who walks along side you in your life transitions. Whether you want to learn about organizing your life, discuss parenting techniques, enhance your marriage, decide on a new career, or enhance your new business, I can help. Basically, I help women define their goals and reach them in whatever area of their lives they need help. I encourage my clients as well as hold them accountable to do the things they agree to do. I coach over the telephone so, often, I never meet my clients in person or know what they look like. I provide collaborative information but I don’t just spoon feed the client answers. The first session is always free. During that session, I start by listening to what the woman I am coaching has to say about her concerns. I ask questions to clarify my understanding of her concerns and then I tell her how I would coach her to meet the goal she has identified. If she doesn’t have a solid goal in mind, I discuss how we would work to

WAYS TO REDUCE RISK IN ANY SITUATION Life is full of risks. Although many people thrive on taking risks, most people worry about risk and sometimes are paralyzed when they think about taking on a decision that entails risk. We cannot avoid risk but we can reduce or mitigate it if we take the time to go through a few simple steps. Define the problem in writing Writing out a problem allows you to really dissect it and understand it. Also, having a problem written down allows you to go back to it as often as necessary to study it. Studying the problem often allows you to see aspects of it that you never before considered. Write out all possible outcomes and solutions After the problem has been defined, you should give a lot of thought to all the possible solutions. Each solution will have its own set of outcomes or consequences (Pros and Cons). These outcomes are the “what ifs” as in “what if we do nothing?” or “what if we (fill in the blank)?”. Listing each solution with its outcomes (pros and cons) on a separate page will help you move through this process. Write out the pros and cons for each possible solution I like to write out the problem on the top of the page, then write the solution, and finally, draw

You Are in Charge of Your Career Being in charge of your career is an awesome responsibility. You may have dreams for your future but they will remain only dreams unless you turn them into SMART goals and reach at least some of them. One point that differentiates a goal from a dream is that a goal is written. A SMART goal is a written goal that is: Specific…you can describe it concretely to others Measurable…you can tell when you have accomplished it Attainable…it is something you can actually do Relevant…it is something that makes sense to do in your life Time-specific…there is a date when you will have attained the goal Today the thought is that individuals may change careers as many as 4 or 5 times during their working lives. The idea that you may have 4 or 5 careers can be overwhelming if you don’t even know what you want to do for your first career! Remember, you don’t have to know everything all at once. Everyday you learn a little more about all sorts of topics and your ideas will change. But, how can you have several careers and what does that really mean? Everyone’s career path will obviously be different. Some will train for a career and stay in that career. Others will go into a certain field like medicine, law, or business, and move around in

We all want to be winners but often we focus on the wrong part of the win/lose scenario and then wonder why we didn’t win. Winning in life is a personal venture. I cannot win for you and you cannot win for someone else. You can only win or lose for yourself. So, why do some people often win while others seem to rarely win? I believe some people win because they know how to focus on winning while others focus on why they aren’t winning and the competitor’s strengths rather than focusing on seeing themselves as winners. The following tips may help you to focus on seeing yourself as a winner and consequently, YOU WILL WIN: Visualize what it FEELS like to win. Feel the joy and the exhilaration of being the winner! Actually SMILE and say out loud, “I am the winner! I WON! I WON!” Revel in that feeling for a few minutes at least 3 times a day. Encourage yourself by thinking about your special abilities. Find something you are doing RIGHT in every situation and focus on that item rather than what you did wrong. To stop thinking about something, you must replace it with something else. If you keep saying, “I won’t think about losing. I won’t think about losing.” You are thinking about losing. So, instead, say,